Welcome to the 302 Experimental class. As you've figured out already, I'm the professor for this course. My BFA is in Art - Photography, but since the late 90s my work has focused primarily on narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking. I received my MFA in Film Production from the University of Iowa, but my hometown is Austin, TX.
To give you a bit more about me as a person, not just your teacher, here are few things about me:
1) I LOVE FILM...like real FILM...like Super 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm. Shooting it, editing it, watching it. Love, Love, Love.
2) I have the super coolest kid in the world...Kai. You'll hear about him sometimes. Learn to humor me with smiles and nods about his greatness. He'll probably visit at some point and he'll think you're all the coolest people in the world.
3) I love living near the beach. How I managed to live landlocked for 20 years I do not know. :)
4) I'm a non-zealous Whedonite...though I could really have done without Angel.
5) My humor is dark and dry...deal with it.
To give you a bit more information about my professional work, I've included my official bio below.
~Shannon
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Shannon Silva is an Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. In addition to directing/production over 30 experimental, documentary, narrative and animated films, she has worked as Screenplay Competition Director for the Austin Film Festival, Marketing Director for the Austin Cinemaker Cooperative and was a founding member of the Iowa City Microcinema.
In 2013, her feature documentary, It's A Girl Thing: Tween Queens and The Commodification of Girlhood, was awarded Best Social Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
In 2016, she was awarded a prestigious North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship to complete the narrative short, Baby Oil. The film was nominated for Best Writing and Best Actress at the 2017 Massachusetts Independent Film Festival and Best Dramatic Short film at the 2018 Central Florida Film Festival.
In 2016, she was awarded a prestigious North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship to complete the narrative short, Baby Oil. The film was nominated for Best Writing and Best Actress at the 2017 Massachusetts Independent Film Festival and Best Dramatic Short film at the 2018 Central Florida Film Festival.
This past summer Silva directed the short narrative, Shoot the Duck. The film focuses on a young girl competing in a roller skating competition. The film is just now hitting the festival circuit.
Her new film, To Live in the Shadows, is currently in production. The animated, experimental documentary explores the amazing survival, evolution, morphology and development of fern plants.
Her new film, To Live in the Shadows, is currently in production. The animated, experimental documentary explores the amazing survival, evolution, morphology and development of fern plants.
